Get your promo card by playing in the Grand Prix (while supplies last).

Welcome to Providence, Rhode Island and the first three-person team Grand Prix in the eastern United States in nearly a decade! Get together with your friends and see if you have what it takes to be a Grand Prix team champion.

Providence combines the accessibility and friendliness of a small town with the culture and sophistication of a big city. Providence is the capital and most populous city in Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. With a thriving arts community, vibrant and diverse neighborhoods, outstanding hotels, a renowned restaurant scene (Travel + Leisure readers voted Providence one of America's Favorite Cities, ranking the city #2 in the U.S. for food) and so many things to do, Providence is the perfect place to visit. The city's compact size and convenient location make it easy to get to and hard to forget.

Grand Prix Providence is open to the public and all players are invited to come and participate. Grand Prix Providence is a two-day event featuring Return to Ravnica Block Team Sealed Deck on Saturday and Return to Ravnica Block Team Draft on Sunday. In addition to the main event, the Grand Prix weekend offers one of the largest schedules of public events ever brought to a Grand Prix — including an opportunity to win a VIP trip to Seattle in January 2014! Public Events and Last-Chance Grand Prix Trials start Friday, June 7 at noon. Visit www.professional-events.com for more details about public events.

Can you tame the three-headed beast at Grand Prix Providence? If you didn't already have enough reasons to attend Grand Prix Providence just to play the amazing Team Sealed Deck format, the first 250 teams that register on-site Friday will receive exclusive playmats by Steve Prescott. For those players who have attended Grand Prix Atlantic City and Pittsburgh, you'll recognize the seasonal pattern continuing with the "Summer" theme to this playmat!

The Magic: The Gathering Grand Prix tournament series is a great reason to step up your game, catch up with old friends, meet some new ones, and play Magic. Grand Prix tournaments are world-wide open events that allow all Magic players to participate and experience the thrill of a large-scale competition over three days. In addition to cash prizes, a high Planeswalker Points multiplier, and exclusive foil promo cards for participants, the Grand Prix features a host of other activities, including side events and artist signings. Side-event tournaments begin Friday, with the Grand Prix main event running Saturday and Sunday. Find out more about the Grand Prix tournament schedule here.

Tournament Format and Schedule

Place

Prize Money

Pro Points

1

$6,000

6

2

$4,500

5

3-4

$3,000

4

5-8

$1,500

3

9-12

$900

2

13-20

$600

1

Prize money listed is awarded by team, Pro Points awarded by player. Top 2 teams also earn invitations and airfare to Pro Tour Theros in Dublin (October 2013). If Grand Prix attendance is 1,200 or more, Top 4 finishing teams earn invitations and airfare, and all teams with 42 or more match points who do not make Top 4 earn invitations. All prizes in U.S. Dollars. Prizes subject to change.

Does your team have some byes and don't want to get up to register your deck at 9 a.m.? If you have byes and register any time before 10 p.m. on Friday, you are eligible for the "Sleep-In Special". An additional charge of $45 for your team buys you more sleep and a pre-registered deck.

You may ONLY skip the player meeting and deck registration/construction if you paid for the Sleep-In Special.

Cost of the Sleep-In Special is $45 USD per team regardless of number of byes.

Additionally, teams that pay for the Sleep-In Special receive additional benefits as outlined on the Professional Event Services Grand Prix Providence website.

Once you have paid for the Sleep-In Special, a sealed deck card pool will also be registered and verified on your behalf. Instead of arriving at 9 a.m. for the player meeting, you will check in prior to your first round of play and receive a preregistered pool. Preregistered decks are chosen at random for each team from the selection of preregistered decks. From the point when you get the pool, you will have 60 minutes to construct your decks and turn in your decklists. You begin play for the proper round after your byes and continue as normal.

You will need to report a minimum of 30 minutes PRIOR to the start of your first round of play. The estimated round start times for Saturday are 11:30 a.m. (Round 1) and 12:30 p.m. (Round 2).

Check the Professional Event Services Grand Prix Providence website for more details about the Sleep-In Special and how to register for the Sleep-In Special if you can't make it on-site until Saturday.

The main tournament at Grand Prix Providence is open to Magic players of all ages.

Players must have a signed publicity release form to be included in Wizards of the Coast's official online event coverage. Forms can be downloaded here (15k PDF) and will be available onsite. Minors must have a parent or guardian’s signature on this form. Publicity releases will be collected during registration.

Tournament Format and Structure Players should review the Magic Tournament Rules for the rules specific to Team Tournaments, paying particular attention to the following sections:

Section 7.7 – Booster Draft Procedure

Section 8.2 – Team Composition and Identification

Section 8.3 – Team Communication

Day 1: Team Sealed Deck (12 Return to Ravnica Block boosters)

20 minutes for sealed deck pool registration and deck swap

60 minutes for deck building

Decklists are required

Deck registration and deck swap will be performed for the Swiss Sealed Deck.

Day 2 and Playoff: Team Booster Draft (3 Return to Ravnica Block boosters)

Team members draft at the same draft table with one opposing team (6 total players per draft table). Each team members will be randomly seated between 2 opposing team members for the draft. No communication (verbal or non-verbal) is permitted between team members during the draft.

After the draft, team members will be located to separate tables to record their draft pools (15 minutes for draft pool registration and verification). After draft pool registration, team members will sit together for deck building (30 minutes for deck building).

Decklists are required

Tournament Structure

Modified Swiss-style (50-minute rounds).

Each round, the team match is won by the team with the most individual match wins.

All teams with an X-2-0 or better record OR the top 40 teams—whichever number is greater—will advance to the second day of the event.

Day 2 will consist of 3 booster drafts. Teams will be paired for each draft based on standings.

After each booster draft, the teams in each draft will play 2 rounds.

Each team member will be randomly paired against a opposing team member in the first round.

Each team member will be randomly paired against a different opposing team member in the second round.

The Top 4 teams after the final Swiss round on Day 2 will advance to the playoff.

Playoff matches will be best 2 of 3 games per individual match, with no time limit (Players are still expected to play at a normal pace and complete playoff matches in a reasonable amount of time.)

Where necessary, the standings after the Swiss rounds will still be used to determine final order in the standings.

For the first game of each match in the playoff, the players on the team that finished higher in the Swiss rounds choose either to play first or to play second.

Semfinal Round

Each team member will be randomly paired against a opposing team member. Only 1 round will be played in the semifinals.

Final Round

Each team member will be randomly paired against a opposing team member in the first round.

Each team member will be randomly paired against a different opposing team member in the second round.

If necessary, each team member will be paired against the remaining opposing team member in the third round.

Judges The Head Judges for this event will be Jurgen Baert and Kevin Desprez. The Regional Judge Coordinator is Richard Drijvers. Judges interested in working at this event should submit an application through the Magic judge website .

Notes

Planeswalker Points multiplier 8x, Rules Enforcement Level (REL) is Competitive on Day 1 and Professional on Day 2.

The Magic: The Gathering Tournament Rules and the Magic: The Gathering Infraction Procedure Guide are in effect for this event unless specifically overruled by information in this Format Document. Rules documents can be found in the Magic Document Center .

Players are responsible for bringing their own method of tracking life totals, card sleeves, and appropriate counters or tokens.

In the event that a player who wins an invitation to a Pro Tour stop at a Grand Prix has already qualified for an invitation, the invitation does not pass down under any circumstances. Previous qualification may be through a Qualifier tournament, through performance at a professional tournament, or by being an invited DCI player (valid upon the date of the official rank announcement for the appropriate professional tournament).

Byes earned through Planeswalker Points are calculated using the Planeswalker Point totals from all reported events as of the Wednesday immediately before the Grand Prix. (For Grand Prix Providence, the cutoff date will be June 5.) Points earned in tournaments held at the Grand Prix event site do not count toward earned byes at that Grand Prix. Byes will be given to players in the Grand Prix based on the following criteria:

Trial winners Winners of a Trial tournament are awarded 3 byes in the Grand Prix that it feeds. Trial byes are not cumulative with other byes and do not pass down. Byes are not cumulative throughout the season or year. Byes do not pass down under any circumstances. Players who accumulate multiple byes to a particular Grand Prix tournament receive only the bye for the greatest number of rounds. For complete information about Grand Prix byes and their corresponding competitive season, please check the Magic Premier Event Invitation Policy.

Side Events

Along with the main event, there are additional side-event tournaments to play in at a Grand Prix. Listed below are the side events offered at all Grand Prix on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Additional events and a full schedule can be found on the Professional Event Services website. All side events will have a Planeswalker Points multiplier of 3x.

FridayLast-Chance Trials Earn a valuable Third-Round bye by winning one of the Last-Chance Trials. Last-Chance Trials are 32-person single-elimination events, starting as soon as 32 players register. For more info, check out the Byes section of this page.

"Foiled Again" A straight Swiss tournament lasting three or four rounds. Participants get 1 past promo card for playing, then one additional promo card per match win. Format varies by event.

SaturdayValue Drafts Enjoy a special discount on pick-up drafts on Saturday. Actual times and prices vary by event.

"Rebound" Event Format at organizer's discretion. The winner(s) earn free entry into the "Super Sunday Series" (see below). Players who also played in the main Grand Prix tournament will get a discount for entry.

SundaySuper Sunday Series Two Super Sunday Series tournaments will be held at each Grand Prix, one Sealed Deck and one Standard. The Top 4 players from each will proceed to play in the Super Sunday Series Final Booster Draft. The Top 4 players in Super Sunday Series Final will each be awarded a special Grand Prix messenger bag. The winner of the Super Sunday Series Final will earn an invitation and travel award for the Super Sunday Series Championship, to be held in January 2014 in Seattle with a prize purse of $20,000. The Super Sunday Series Championship experience also includes a tour of Wizards of the Coast, dinner with Wizards employees, and more. (Details about the Championship will be announced later in 2013.).

Artist Information

Prominent Magic artist Steve Prescott will be on hand for free signings of your favorite cards, plus you'll have the opportunity to buy prints and even original artwork. We will be adding more artists, so check back!

Travel Information

Just an hour from Boston and three hours from New York City, Providence is a capital that is easy to get to and easy to get around in. It boasts a convenient airport, fast and reliable train service, and a simple bus system, meaning you can get there from here.

Air Travel

Located just 10 minutes from downtown Providence, Warwick's T.F. Green Airport (PVD) was recently named one of the top five airports in the US by Travel + Leisure magazine. Just off Exit 13 on Interstate Route 95, Green Airport is accessible to Boston, Cape Cod and Southeastern New England, and is fast-becoming a popular alternative to Boston's Logan Airport.

Driving Directions

Downtown Providence is conveniently located off Interstate 95.

From 95 N: Take Exit 22A, Downtown Providence. Follow the signs towards Downtown/Convention Center. At the light, turn right onto Francis St. At the next light, turn right onto Sabin St where you will find the RI Convention Center.

From 95 S: Take Exit 22A, Downtown Providence. Follow the signs towards Downtown/Convention Center. Go through the 1st light in the right-hand lane. Take your 1st right after the light. Continue to the second light; take a right onto Exchange Street. At the stop sign, take a right onto Exchange Terrace. Proceed straight through the next set of lights, bear left at the fork onto Sabin Street where you will find the RI Convention Center.

Parking

Click here for detailed information on parking in downtown Providence.

Rail Service

Providence is located on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor between Washington DC/New York City and Boston. High speed Acela Express train service transports passengers from New York City to Providence in about two and a half hours. For tickets call 1-800-USA-RAIL or visit www.amtrak.com.

The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) runs low cost commuter trains to Providence from Boston and other points in Massachusetts. The MBTA also offers scheduled rail service from Warwick's T.F. Green Airport to Providence and Boston. For more information, call 1-800-392-6100 or visit www.MBTA.com for schedules and fares.

Hotel Information

Looking for a great deal on a hotel room? We have it for you! PES has arranged a great room block for Grand Prix Providence. The Omni Providence Hotel is attached to the venue and offers a room rate of $139.00 per night.